Raptors and Vipers
by tokengirl
Summary: Portia just wanted to shoot people and make a living at it. Throw in the politics of a turian for a boyfriend and elements out of her control and life was bound to get interesting.
1. Chapter 1

I'm playing with the world and own nothing but those that I thought up.

I would dearly love reviews..

" _In sports news: The Texas Diamond Backs traded high scorer Portia Keuhl to the Terra Nova Meteors. Keuhl is one of the last of the old guard since the Diamond Backs came under new management last August. The Diamond Backs will get two first round draft picks out of the deal. " the holo of a trim dark skin human stated._

"_It sounds like the Diamond Backs are getting the short end of that deal, " replied the turian to his right." Keuhl has been named MVP three times, helped take the Diamond Backs to the Championships the last two years and is the top ranking in assists. Losing someone of her talent to two fresh faced characters and thrusting them into the Diamond Backs doesn't seem logical. "_

_The human chuckled. " Well, David Albuck, the new manager of the Diamond Backs, isn't known for his logical thinking but the team might pull another Championship even without Keuhl. Though this does beg the question if Keuhl can help the Meteors into the Playoffs or even win when the two teams meet in two standard months. "_

"Didn't know you were into sports, Commander," Joker replied carefully sitting down next to his commanding officer in the port side lounge of the _Normandy._

The dark skinned woman next to him shrugged." Too bored to change the channel." she smirked and glanced over to her pilot. "Maybe I should quit being a Spectre and join the UCL. They probably make more than I do saving the galaxy. "

" Well the Illusive Man did get you a UC League combat suit maybe you should show up to Edmonton's Training Camp and sneak into a session. " Joker lived up to his name." Bet you would kick all their asses."

Shepard laughed. " I probably could take most of them. I'm just surprised the Alliance hasn't tried to enlist some of the players. "

" Uh, it's the other way around. Most of the players are ex-Alliance. " he shrugged at Shepard's frown. "Like you said: they get paid a hell of a lot more than a soldier. "

* * *

Vurenus Arko couldn't help staring at his teammate as she dumped her old Diamondback warm-up gear and branded clothing into a large metal barrel and poured lighter fluid on them. She took a swig of the bottle of expensive brandy that sat on a nearby patio table and lit a match. It was a good thing she hadn't seen or heard him come into her penthouse. For the past two days she had been surly and refused to leave her house drinking copious amounts of alcohol and eating greasy food. If it hadn't been for the extra access codes and him living across the hall then he would never have been able to see her. No one had seen Portia since the meeting between her and Albuck and her lawyers and the team's lawyers. Luckily they lived in a complex with the highest grade surveillance countermeasures for the rich and famous that lived there, UCL players included. The franchise's and League's PR department spun the trade as a decision based on performance on the field but it was the performance off the field that caused her to be traded and paid off.

Vurenus took a step from the shadows of Portia's apartment and came towards her from the right. She flicked the match into the barrel and turned to look at him.

"This is bullshit, Vurenus."

"I know and I will gladly go with you or retire or hell buy out my contract." Vurenus came closer but Portia held up a hand for him to stay.

"Lets not sully your reputation." she sneered. "One of us has to save face."

"No one knows but the tabloids that we're sleeping together-"

"-and now half the league."

"So what if they know? They don't fucking matter."

"Do remember our agreement?" Portia asked staring at the flames that melted her old gear.

Vurenus nodded and took a seat on a rattan settee nearest her."Yes, but this doesn't count. We can work through this. This can work if we try hard enough."

Portia frowned. "Once a standard month and during off season? Like it wasn't hard enough with an open-minded team _and_ manager? We'll both be scrutinized by everyone, teammates, fans, owners, sponsors doubly so now."

"No one has said anything about us and they won't if they don't want to be seen as close-minded and bigoted." Vurenus replied calmly and reached out to take Portia's hand.

She looked down at him and sighed, letting him pull her over to sit on his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close. The strength of his arms relaxed her and she put her cheek on his chest. Unlike humans the heartbeat of a turian could not he heard through their chest but she could feel his warmth.

"It's strange not waking at the crack of dawn for practice. I had forgotten what it was like to sleep in." she said softly.

Vurenus chuckled. "You always sleep in unless I'm around to wake you up."

Portia thumped her knuckles against Vurenus' side and giggled. "You are the reason that I sleep in."

Vurenus shifted his seat and pulled her closer, nuzzling his face into her neck and inhaling the scent that was purely hers: cinnamon and chili's and apples. He growled playfully and slid his arms around her waist. On any other day Portia would gladly play along with her turian but she was still too angry at her trade for their games.

She leaned away from him and sighed. "I need to pack. I have to book passage to get to Terra Nova in three days."

From the flaring of his mandibles Portia could tell that Vurenus was put out by her refusal but after a moment he nodded and released his hold on her. She scooted out of his lap and sat next to him.

"Now if Alfuck hasn't changed the schedule for tomorrow you should have early practice tomorrow morning." she smirked at the new nickname she thought up and watched the flames escape from the burn barrel. "Giving you plenty of time for me to finish packing and you to come over in time for my shower."

Vurenus looked down at her and chuckled. "Glad to see you haven't gone frigid." A small fist landed a punch to his side and he laughed. He stood and ruffled her hair. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He left her sitting on the rattan couch watching the flames consume her time on Earth.


	2. Chapter 2

The Houston/Perot Spaceport was busy on the early morning flights out of the southern hub of the continent and Portia was eager to get out of the crowds. Next to her stood Vurenus, both in smart business attire though their appearance was changed enough that most if not anybody could recognize them. The driver to Portia's trip to the hub made no remark about the two as they cuddled in the backseat of the limo. Portia only carried a small carry on, the rest of her possessions were being shipped to her new apartment that was furnished by the Meteors until she found a more suitable place to live.

People passed them by with little thought as they made their way to the VIP Lounge where Portia would board her shuttle. The darkened glass doors slid shut behind them and the crowd was out of her view. Vurenus stepped in front of her and placed his large three fingered hands on her shoulder.

"You don't have to do this-"Vurenus started but Portia stopped him with a wave of her hand.

"Please don't make this harder than it is." she replied. "We've had this discussion for three days and nothing can be agreed on. I can't get out of it." She stepped closer to him, pulling him down closer to her so that her mouth was close to his ear. "Just think of the make-up sex when we face off and I win." she breathed.

The stone faced turian growled at the thought of her spread out before him and he wanted her right now. "You are a horrible tease. Thinking you'll win." he replied with a chuckle.

Portia laughed softly and stepped away from him before someone caught them.

"Miss Keuhl?" a flight attendant in a navy blue and white pant suit asked as she came from the boarding ramp. Her sunny blonde hair was perfect coiffed in a bun at the nape of her neck and her smile was permanently fixed on her tan face. "The shuttle will begin preflight in five minutes. I will be glad to take your bag for you."

Portia looked from the attendant to Vurenus and smiled. "I'll see you in two months."she replied and gave the turian a hug.

For a moment the turian didn't move but then his arms wrapped around her back and he tightened the hug. Portia wanted to stay here, in this place, in this time, with this being in front of her. Her heart tightened as she loosened her grip on him and tried to move away from him. It seemed that he wasn't going to let her get away but after a assuring pat from her he let her go and took a step back. He looked down at her, saw the conflict of wanting to be in with him but having to go away, and knew he needed to make the cut. He turned and started walking, away from the human that had lodged herself in his life, and the teammate that he would miss. Portia watched him walkway and the tightening in her chest numbed over with the thought of not being around him. Taking a deep breath she turned and flashed the attendant a shaky smile.

"Lets get this show on the road." Portia picked up her carry on and started over to the boarding ramp and the flawless blonde.

The attendant nodded and followed Portia down the ramp and into the airlock of the shuttle. The shuttle was one of the fancier shuttles that she had ever been but it was for a single passenger. A lounge with a door to a bedroom and beyond that was a en-suite toilette and shower. Portia let the attendant take her carry on and the woman disappeared into the bedroom where she would put the meager amount of clothing in a closet if Portia should deign to change. With a letting out of a breath that she didn't she was holding she let herself fall into a plush couch in the lounge and letting her shoes drop off her feet.

The door behind her slid open. "Would you like anything to drink, Miss Keuhl?"

"Water and lemon, please." she answered, putting her feet up on the couch.

She could hear the attendant fix her drink, the clinking of ice in a glass, the pouring of water and then silence.

"Ma'am." the flight attendant replied to Portia's left a low ball tumbler in her hand.

With a faint smile she took the glass from her and took a small sip, tasting the faint brightness of the yellow citrus." Thank you."

The attendant slipped out of her gaze and Portia took another drink and let the cool liquid run down her throat. She pulled up her omni - tool and started to read the news that she might have missed. Nothing immediate had happened in the hour that had passed she and Vurenus had left her apartment. There was no mention of her and the turian in the major or local news and that was a good thing for her. Her body started to relax as the tension of her departure from Earth and she set her drink down before she dropped it. It seemed that the stress, or her time with Vurenus was making her sleepy and she shut her eyes to get a little rest before the end of her trip.

Portia's head felt like it was heavy with sand and cotton or maybe a heavy blanket topped. She tried to move her head or open her eyes and all she got for her trouble was more darkness and an ache in her neck from moving.

"She's waking up." the creaky tenor from a man sneered from ten o'clock.

She heard a couple of footfalls coming at her and a large hand of a male, maybe human maybe batarian, wrapped itself in her hair and yanked her head back, exposing her throat. Portia forced her body to relax, let her shoulders fall and her keeping her breathing slow. Her hands were bound in one of her stockings at her front and she didn't know if that was because they were amateurs or they were confident. She could feel skin against her arms and her legs were naked and that meant that she was down to bra and panties and for that she was thankful.

'Play nice with this guy.' Vurenus' voice whispered in her head.

"Good morning you alien loving cunt." the voice snarled. This time she placed her captor's inflection as Russian, the sound of whiskey over boulders. "We've been waiting for you to be available for an interview."

"If you wanted an interview all you had to do was ask." she replied calmly. She hoped that her response was nice enough.

There were more footsteps, one from her right and the foot steps in front of her worked around her left side. The back of an armored hand slammed into her cheek and she felt it crack her cheek bone and slice into her skin, Anger seemed to seep into her skin where the warm trickle of blood slipped from a slice on her skin. The impulse to clench her jaw and growl out an insult was driven away when she put pressure on that bone.

"You are going to be judged for you crimes, traitor." a second voice, smooth, cultured, added from above her.

"Very well, then." she replied and the darkness that covered her eyes was ripped away.

She clenched her eyes shuts to protect her sight and adjust slowly. A hand, the same hand that hit her maybe, grabbed her chin and the hand that held her head back retreated. Portia didn't want to open her eyes just yet but she seemed that she had to. Her eyes blinked open and her vision focused on a handsome human face with white hair and a tan complexion. She flashed her gaze about, trying to gage her surroundings to see if she could recognize any sounds or sights. The room she was in was solid white, with bright overhead lights and the walls and floor that were white metal. There were no windows and she heard nothing from outside the walls. The room was isolated and she could safely bet that it had adequate sound proofing to prevent anyone from hearing her scream for help.

The man shook her chin slightly and she looked up at him, her eyes narrowed from the glare of the lights off his armor. On the right chest plate was the familiar orange and black crest of, Cerberus, the pro-human terrorist organization. She hissed at the sight and the man roughly shoved her away from him. Both of the men walked away from her and she let her torso fall over her restrained hands. If anyone was watching it would have looked like she was crying about her fate instead of loosening the knots of her bindings. One of the men left the room while her head was down, she could hear the faint hiss of a door and tensed her shoulders as she loosened the knot enough that she would be able to release her hands comfortably.

* * *

...Four hours earlier...

Vurenus watched the last of Portia's belongings were packed up by the movers and hauled out of her apartment by mechs and sleds. It was depressing watching the possessions of his teammate disappear, only to be seen when the small chance came that he could see her. The last of the humans left the room and the turian heard his comm beep.

"Yes?" he answered sharply.

"Vurenus get to the extranet. Now." the sound of the Diamondbacks heavy, Guero, growled.

"Can't it wait?" he asked. The large krogan was always sending him lecherous net links that was probably stolen from Fornax.

"It's Portia." the krogan's voice was dark and Vurenus jogged out of the empty apartment and into his own where he left his holo screen open to a news channel.

On the channel was a pop in window with what looked like a scene from an action movie. A human woman, dressed only in her bra and panties, was unconscious on a chair in the middle of a brightly lit white room. Standing to either side were two men fully dressed in white and gray armor with the crest of orange and black insignia behind them. Vurenus knew that insignia well, had seen it when he served in the military. Portia had explained the saying "seeing red" and he was starting to understand what she was talking about. He couldn't hear what the reporter on screen was saying because all he could hear was the sound of his roaring and the crashing of furniture drowned the news out. So enraged at the sight of the woman he was closest with held hostage he didn't hear the stomping of boots as the apartment complex's security force came in to investigate and subdue their tenant. He barely felt the sting of the needle through the skin on his neck and then his body slowed and then went dark.

* * *

...Two hours later...

Vurenus glared at the police officer through the transparent wall of the holding cell as he talked to Vurenus' lawyer. The balding human in the expensive suit nodded at something the officer said and then he swept his arm towards Vurenus. The officer stiffened and then pressed his hand on a metal column and the smaller piece of glass that was on the other side of the column slid open. "You're free to go." the officer replied.

The turian stood and walked out of the cell, the talons of his feet clicking softly on the cell's floor. "Has there been any word on Portia?"

His lawyer shook his head and Vurenus growled softly. "None, but there have been reassurances by the Alliance to her family that they shall track her down. It would not be prudent for a celebrity of Ms. Keuhl's status to be publicly executed. It would bode ill for the policies of Council Space. But Cerberus is a terrorist organization and the government has taken a stance of not negotiating with terrorists."

Vurenus growled again in frustration. "The Alliance will take too long. I need to find someone that can get her out sooner rather than later."

"A mercenary group?" the man asked.

"If need be though I would rather not have to deal the Blood Pack or Blue Suns."

"Do you have anyone from your military experience that you can contact? I'm sure that if it's about Cerberus many of them would love a chance at getting someone as xenophobic as Cerberus."

Vurenus looked down at his lawyer and thought for a moment." There might be." he patted the human on his shoulder and left the man standing the lobby of the police station.

Vurenus stared at the screen to his personal terminal wondering how he should go about proposition his former squad mate. He and his squad had not spoken in five years and as far as he knew the turian had wanted to speak to was far from any reputable contact. C-Sec wouldn't know where he was since he quit the force and exiled himself from Council Space. His imagination conjured the image of Portia bloody and screaming into his mind and he started the process of shifting through contact files to find his long lost teammate. The yellow sun of Earth was dipping down into the horizon when he finally got the extranet address for the turian he was looking for.

_"Garrus,_

_I know that is has been a long time but you are the only one I can contact and ask for assistance. One of my teammates has been kidnapped by a certain xenophobic organization and I know that the Alliance and its affiliates will not put forth the effort to retrieve this person. I will pay you to the fullest of my capacity for helping me with this matter._

_Vurenus Ark_o

Vurenus' hand hovered over the send button for a moment and then he pressed send. He didn't know how long it would take for the message to arrive to its intended reader but he hoped that it was soon. There had been no more reports on Portia since his meltdown which terrified him. He needed to do something to keep his mind busy. He went over to his old military trunk and slid it open. His old armor was still dented but clean. Time had made it obsolete and he would need a new kit if he was to go after Portia and survive.


End file.
